"The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke

"As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,

the movement of his powerful soft strides

is like a ritual dance around a center

in which a mighty will stands pararlyzed,"

("The Panther," Rilke)

This oxymoron used by Rilke really answers the first question posed on the handout.  Rilke uses the image of an entrapped panther because of the connotation of a panther versus the connotation of a lion.  This oxymoron alone gives the opinion that panthers are creatures to be respected, while the normal opinion of lions is that they should be feared.  Also, this stanza (was that the right word?) seems to juxtapose the natural power of a panther with the paralysis of an imprisoned panther.  I had thought that this was at a zoo when Rilke described the bars that the panther lived in, but the other images of people and, maybe more importantly, the ritual dance make me feel like this panther is a part of a circus attraction, but I do not know if panthers are actually circus animals.

In the last stanza, an "image enters in" the heart of the panther, which I take as being when the panther is released from its cage and finally gets to experience the world, but this goes away when the show is over.  I got this conclusion from the possible double meaning to the word "curtain of the pupils."  It makes it sound like the panther is simply waking up and opening its eye lids, but it could actually mean opening the circus curtains for the viewers, which can be described as pupils as well.  So I guess an image does not actually enter into the panther's heart, but rather the viewers at the circus who get to the dark silhouette of the panther doing a ritual dance.

Through an oxymoron and juxtaposition, Rilke seems to portray the immense pressure of a circus panther undertakes as a result of being taken in by a circus and treated as an attraction instead of an actual beast.

I wanted to put a picture of a panther in the circus to show how silly they look, but there are none on Google Image so I guess maybe it really was just a panther in the zoo.  Most of my analysis seems to still work though, so I am pleased with this poem!  Seriously, why do I feel like I have seen panthers in the circus?